Wednesday, February 13, 2008

When the Tule Fog gets you down....

The Central Valley of California is not one of the grandest places to be in the world in February, although I am sure that my friends in snow country might disagree, but frankly, it's not very long before the fruit trees bloom, pollen fills the air, and my hay fever goes hypercritical. When this all happens, I realize I have to get out of town. So...I am dragging 15 or 20 students out of the classroom, and we are headed to Death Valley for a long weekend!

There is no place in the world quite like DV...the oldest rocks in California, evidence of the Proterozoic snowball earth, 36,000 feet of Proterozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, detachment faults, strike-slip faults, turtleback faults, thrust faults, a two mile deep fault graben, the hottest and driest place in North America, the lowest place in North America, four species of fish (?!), and that is only scratching the surface.

Blogging will be slow for a few days...they haven't installed wi-fi in the campgrounds just yet...

Death Valley is one of those places I really should have visited by now. Have an awesome trip! We'll all be expecting photos!

And be sure not to come to the Inland Empire for anything right now, if you want to save yourself from sniffles. The trees are definitely in full force already. (Or if this isn't full force, then actual full force is going to be my sinuses' doom.)

About Me

I am a teacher of geology at Modesto Junior College and former president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Far Western Section. I have led field trips all over the western United States, and a few excursions overseas, but my homebase is the Sierra Nevada, the Great Valley, and the Coast Ranges of California.

Ask Geotripper

Is there something about geology that you are curious about? Do you have questions about the scientific aspects of political controversies? I can try to provide a scientist's perspective. Your questions and possible answers could be a springboard to a blog discussion, or they can be private. Anonymity is always assumed. Contact Geotripper at hayesg (at) mjc.edu.

Blooks, Boogers and Bleries

Here are some of the series I've produced for the Geotripper Blog:

The Other California: what to see when you've seen all the really famous places in the Golden State (in progress).Into the Great Unknown: A rafting journey down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. The most incredible adventure of my life (so far)!

The Hawai'i That Was: An exploration of the geology, natural history, and anthropology of the most isolated lands on the planet. It's a lot more than beaches, shopping, and palm trees!